The Most Dangerous Thing in the World

There are many things that could be considered the most dangerous thing in the world. But I believe this to be up there along with narcissism, greed, and the Clinton’s, to be the most toxic to society.

His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, who leads the 900-year old Karma Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism, says, “The most dangerous thing in the world is apathy.”

Many people I’ve encountered have their own definitions of what apathy is, but what does it really mean? One can only guess at what it is, until they’ve actually experienced it for themselves.

Apathy is a feeling much like falling in love; however, it is actually the opposite of love. You may believe the opposite of love to be something like hate, fear, or evil, but it is not. Love is showing compassion, caring, so what’s the opposite of caring?

Not caring. Simple. Paradoxically, the feeling of apathy is actually the feeling of not feeling.

In today’s world, it’s become sort of an epidemic, especially among adolescents and young adults. Without a doubt, it’s most likely something you have encountered in your life.

Through much psychological research, it’s now accepted science that you must experience feelings about son if you’re to take personally meaningful action on it. And without any compelling emotion to direct your behavior, you aren’t sufficiently stimulated, or motivated, to do anything. It’s like going numb and being so muted or held with such unrecognizable tension that you may not feel it at all.

Apathy is an attitude. It’s an attitude of indifference… unconcern… unresponsiveness… detachment…

Not giving a shit.

You can see where this ends up bad for the world when everyone just stops giving a shit about anything. The ultimate factors are pretty much the same. That is, for all who suffer from apathy, what’s lost is the fundamental hope that personal happiness or fulfillment is possible. Either they’ve ceased to believe in the intrinsic value of the goals set earlier for themselves, or they’ve lost faith in their ability to achieve these goals.

As a result, physical, mental, or emotional energy to accomplish what had been important and valued in the past, by then disappears. Lost. Nowhere to be found. Likely, in the same dark, dense forest of depression, since these two both go hand-in-hand with each other.

“A lack of love can cause people to have no help when they need help, no friends when they need a friend… So, in a sense, the most dangerous thing in the world is apathy. We think of violence, warfare, disease, as terrible dangers, and indeed they are, but we can take measures to avoid them. But once our apathy takes hold of us, we can no longer avoid it.” From Karmapa.

The Karmapa has a vision, a vital need for religion and centers of learning to educate leaders of all faiths because the material and technological progress made by today’s society cannot alone solve all of our problems.

“We lose direction in our lives because of material progress or luxury, in such circumstances, is especially necessary for us to return to the study of spirituality and cultivate both wisdom and compassion.”